Talk:Alfa Romeo 169

Future 169
This is article is pure speculation as there is no 169 in newest Fiat Group Automobiles product plan for Alfa Romeo http://www.fiatgroup.com/en-us/shai/iinfo/presentations/Documents/FGA_2010_2014-A_way_forward.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by Typ932 (talk • contribs) 19:40, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Future no 169
The "169" project has been around for some years.

The main reason for the continues setbacks that keep the "169" out of the Alfa line is the perceived (by Alfa's management) necessity to acquire an RWD platform, as the FF layout is notoriously non appealing to the buyers of large sedan (and hard-core "Alfisti", to tell the truth).

Giving the fact that developing a new platform just for the "169" would hardly have been a sound investement (and they already did -almost- the same mistake with the Premium platform, used just by the Alfa 159 and some derivates), Alfa has lost an awful lot of time looking for a suitable external source for this key part of the car.

They considered the platform of the Maserati Quattroporte (deemed too heavy and expensive), that of the Mercedes Benz class E (but MB decided not to sell to a potential competitor, in the end) and, for a while, even Jaguar's (as Jag is controlled y Tata, a company with whom FIAt group has some ties).

Then it came 2008, the FIAT-Chrysler merge and its turmoil, and again there was rumors of a "169" based on the platform of the Chrysler 300 (which is, ironically, herself a derivative of a MB class E platform, though not of the current generation) to be assembled in the USA.

In the end, the project it's still at a standstill, as Marchionne said "As for the '169', it's up to Alfa to show Chrysler that they can compete with the Germans, and that building that car may be a viabe affair" (I took some liberty with the translation).

Recently, the future "169" got tangled with the replacement of the 159, the Giulia, itself a car whose deployment has been pushed back one year when it was speculated to be near its presentation. The new Giulia, a compact executive for the american and european markets, was to be built over an "American" package (platform/engines/system) created by stretching and widening the C-Evo platform. The resulting car allegedly was at least 4.8 m long, 1.8 m wide, more that 1.5 m tall and quite awkward looking, as a consequence of the skewed dimensions, prompting Marchionne to shelve it and avoid a re-edition of the Alfa 6 mess (another car too narrow for her age, whose sales were a dysmal failure).

It is believed that the botched "big" Giulia could eventually be recycled as the base for a LX platform big Alfa, to be seen after the Giulia will roll out (FIAT/Chrysler resources are pretty slim, and can't be dispersed too much).

The only thing that can reasonably be said about this would-be-car is that, with the years mounting since the discontinuation of the 166 (in the best case scenario, it will come out a whole eight years after the demise of her predecessor) and Alfa veering away from "numbers" denomination, when (if?) it will be built, it will probably not be called "169" anyway. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.41.59.155 (talk) 14:41, 23 July 2010 (UTC)